Movable closure for car bodies



, H ow 5 N T L 2 EM m V S f! fa l 1/671!!! 7 E R. M. LOOMHS MOVABLE CLOSURE FOR CAR BODIES June 13, 19?

Flled Sept 20 19 June 13, R967 M LOQM|5 MOVABLE CLOSURE FOR CAR BODIES Filed Sept. 20, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR RUSSE LL M LOOMIS 3,324,595 MOVABLE CLOSURE FOR CAR BODIES Russell M. Loomis, Palos Heights, Ill., a'ssignor to Unarco Industries, Inc, a corporation of Illinois Filed Sept. 20, 1965, Ser. No. 488,600 6 Claims. (Cl. 49-177) ABSTRACT (IF THE DISCLOSURE A closure and lading securing means for truck, trailer and railway car bodies, including doors movable lengthwise of the bodies, to be latched in various adjusted positions therein and which are hinged to swing between positions transverse or parallel to the body side walls, and which can be swung out of the body and fiat against the outer sides thereof. Movable seals are mounted on the doors and operated in conjunction with the latching means to seal the doors in the body.

This invention relates to movable closures for car bodies and more specifically to a closure door for open ended bodies which may be moved from a position closing the open end of the body to an intermediate position within the body .to define a desired lading space.

In loading car bodies which are opened at one end, such as usual truck or trailer bodies or, for example, for loading one end of car bodies provided with side openings centrally of their length, it is desirable that the lading be held securely in place against shifting. It is also necessary to provide closure doors for .the open end of the body to prevent accidental loss of the lading.

Heretofore it has been customary to provide a single door or pair of doors hinged to the sides of the body at the open end thereof to close the body and which can swing completely out of the body for free access thereto for loading and unloading. In order to secure partial loads in the body, it has been necessary to provide separate lading separating means which can secure the lading in .the body against accidental shifting.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a movable closure for car bodies which can be moved to any desired position lengthwise of the body and latched in place securely to hold a partial load therein and which can be swung completely out of the body through the open end thereof to provide free access for loading and unloading.

Another object is to provide a movable closure for car bodies in which a door or pair of doors are slidably mounted on tracks on one or both sides of the body for free longitudinal movement in the body and pivotal movement about a vertical axis and having connections to the tracks to swing out of the open end of the body.

According to a feature of the invention, the tracks may project beyond the open end of the body and curve outwardly so that the door or doors can be moved completely out of the body and can be swung against an outer sidewall thereof to provide full access for loading and unloading or the doors are formed with hinged portions to produce the same result.

According to another feature the doors are provided with seals to engage the body, at least some of which are movable with the latches for the doors.

A further object is to provide a movable closure for car bodies in which interconnected guide rollers carried by the doors ride on vertically spaced guide strips in the sidewall of the body to hold the door against tilting.

Preferably, the rollers are in the form of sprockets and the guide strips are formed with openings to receive the sprocket and to insure against accidental slipping.

3,324,595 Patented June 13, 1967 According to another feature of the invention, the latching mechanism for the door include a latch member to hold the sprockets against rotation thereby to prevent movement of the door in the body.

The body and other objects and features of the in vention will be more readily apparent from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a trailer body equipped with a movable closure embodying the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a partial end view looking from the open end of the body with parts in section;

FIGURE 3 is a partial section on the line 3--3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a partial horizontal section;

FIGURE 5 is a view of the doors, similar to FIGURE 4, showing an alternative latching mechanism;

FIGURE 6 is a partial face View of the door of FIG- URE 5;

FIGURE 7 is a partial section showing the movable seal structure; and

FIGURE 8 is a partial section similar to FIGURE 4 of an alternative construction.

As shown in FIGURE 1, the invention is applied to a conventional trailer body 10 supported on wheels 11 and which is open at one end for loading and unloading. As best seen in FIGURE 2, the trailer body is formed in the roof with a downwardly opening track or strip 12 and in its floor with an upwardly opening track groove 13. In the construction shown herein, double doors are provided. Track structures are provided at each side of the body. The sidewalls of the body additionally carry guide strips 14 which are in the form of elongated metal strips formed with a series of spaced openings similar to a rack and are provided near the center line of the body with a ceiling latching strip 15 and a floor latching strip 16 which are formed with a series of spaced latching openings.

According to one of the features of the invention, the tracks 12 and 13 are formed with extensions 17 and 18 which project beyond the open end of the body and which curve toward the outside thereof. Preferably, the ends of the curved track sections are closed to prevent the doors from accidentally being completely removed from the body.

The open end of the body is adapted to be closed by one or more doors 19 of which two are shown of a size completely to close the body when they are in aligned side by side relationship. Each of the doors carries at its upper edge, adjacent to one side edge, a guide roller 21 which fits into the track 12 and which is movable freely along the track. As best seen in FIG- URE 3, each guide roller 21 is carried by brackets 22 extending outwardly from the face of the door which faces the open end of the body. At its lower edge, and in alignment with the roller 12, each door carries a roller 23 which is rotatably on a horizontal axis and which is supported for swiveling movably on a bracket 24 projecting outwardly from the outer face of the door. The roller 23 rides in the upwardly facing track groove 13 and the two rollers together support the door for free longitudinal movement in the body and for free pivotal movement about an axis aligned with the axis of the roller 21 and the swivel axis of roller 23.

In order to prevent the doors from tilting during movement, each door carries adjacent its free edge and in axial alignment with the roller 21 and the swivel axis of roller 23, a rotatable shaft 25 supported in brackets 26 on the door. The shaft 25 rigidly carries at its opposite ends sprocket guide rollers 27 whose teeth mesh with the openings in the guide strips 14 and which can roll along the guide strips. In this way, each door is held in proper vertical position as it is moved in the body without any possibility of any tilting. In order to latch the doors in desired positions lengthwise of the body, each door carries latching pins 28 which are slidable beyond upper and lower edges of the door and which are spaced slightly from the opposite vertical edges thereof. The latching pins of each vertically aligned pair are connected through links 29 with spaced points on a pivotal operating handle 31. When the handles are turned to the position shown in FIGURE 2, the pins will be extended into openings in the latching strips 15 and 16 and into similar latching openings provided in the open track structures 12 and 13 to secure the door into position. When the handles are .turned in the direction of the arrows in FIGURE 2, the latch pins will be retracted so that the doors can be moved freely longitudinally in the body or can be pivoted against the sidewalls of the body. The doors may be sealed in the body to protect against loss of any flowable material or ingress of air or foreign particles. For this pur ose, each of the doors is provided at each of its side edges with a strip of sealing material as shown at 37 and which will seal against the side walls of the vehicle body when the doors are swung to their closed position. Where the doors meet centrally of the body, they may be offset as shown in FIGURE with a sealing strip 42 provided on one of the offset portions to seal tightly against the other.

For sealing the top and bottom edges of the door, movable sealing strips are provided as shown particularly in FIGURE 7 which will move away from the roof and floor of the carrier body when the door is open to permit free movement of the door. As shown in FIG- URE 7, the door 19 is of hollow construction at least at its upper and lower edges to provide outwardly facing recesses 39 at the upper and lower edges thereof. Metal angle strips 41 are slidably mounted in these recesses and carry at their outer edges resilient sealing strips 42 which are adapted to press against the ceiling and floor of the car to seal the upper and lower edges of the door.

The sealing strips are connected to the latch pins 28 for movement therewith and for this purpose each of the latch pins is provided with an extending finger 43 which fits into an opening in the angle strip 41. The fingers extend through slots in the adjacent face of the door so that the latch bars 28 can move vertically .through the necessary distance for latching and unlatching. When the latch bars are extended to their latching positions, as shown in FIGURE 7, the strips 41 will be moved outwardly to press the sealing strips 42 into sealing engagement with the roof and floor of the carrier body, respectively. When the latches are released for movement of the door, the sealing strips will be retracted so that the door can be moved freely to any desired position in the carrier body.

In use, when it is desired to load or unload the body, the rollers 21 and 23 may be moved into the curved track extensions 17 and 18, as shown in FIGURE 1, and can be swung to a position completely outside of the body and against an outer sidewall thereof, as shown in FIGURE 4. At this time, the open end of the body is completely unobstructed so that it may be loaded or unloaded freely and with no interference from the closure structure. With a partial load in the body, as indicated at 32, the doors may be moved into the body until they engage the lading therein and may be latched in position, as shown in FIGURE 1, to hold the lading securely in place. It will be seen that the doors can be positioned to engage and secure any partial or full load without requiring the provision of any separate or additional lading or confining mechanism.

In the alternative construction, as shown in FIGURES 5 and 6, all of the parts are identical to those illustrated in FIGURES 1 to 4 and are indicated by the same reference numerals with the exception of the latching mechanism. In this construction, latching pins 28 and operating links 29, therefore, are provided at the free edge of the door remote from the rollers 21 and 23 to latch the free edge of the door in .the latching strips 15 and 16 in the same manner as in FIGURES 1 to 4. For latching the edge of the door adjacent to the tracks, a sprocket roller 33 is secured to the shaft 25 and a latch pin 34 is slidably supported in a guide 35 in the door to move into and out of engagement with the sprocket 33. The latch pin 34 is connected by a link 36 to the upper end of the latch operating lever 31, as shown. In this construction, when the lever 31 is in the latching position illustrated, the latch pins 28 are extended and the latch pin 34 is moved into engagement with the sprocket 33 to hold it against turning. Thus, the hinged edge of the door is latched in longitudinal movement of the car through the sprocket 33, sprocket 36 and tracks 14. When the lever 31 swings clockwise, as indicated by the arrow, to withdraw the latch pins 28, it will also withdraw the latch pin 34 so that the door is free to move.

FIGURE 8 shows an alternative construction in which parts corresponding to like parts in the preceding figures are indicated by the same reference numerals. In this construction, each door 19 is made up of two sections constituting a short section 44 adjacent to the side wall of the body which is hinged to a main section 45 constituting the major part of the door. As shown, the two sections are connected by a hinge 46 whose axis lies at the outer face of the door. The short section 44 carries upper follower rollers 21 to fit slideably into the guide strips 12 and in vertical alignment therewith also carries lower carrier rollers 23, not shown in FIGURE 8, to ride in the lower guide strip 13. Preferably, the follower rollers are offset from the face of the door as shown.

With this construction, the tracks may terminate flush with the open end of the body. When the door is to be swung outside of the body it may be moved to its extreme outer position in which the follower rollers are at the ends of the tracks. The main door panel 45 may then be swung around to the illustrated dotted position in which the short door panel 44 extends over the edge of the body sidewall and the main door panel can be swung flat against the outer surface of the body sidewall. While this construction does not leave the open end of the body completely unobstructed, it may be desirable in cases where it is not desirable to have the tracks extend beyond the open end of the body.

While two embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail, it will be understood that these are illustrative only and are not to be taken as a definition of the scope of the invention, reference being had for this purpose to the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A movable closure for a carrier body having a floor and sidewalls and which is open at one end comprising a guide track adjacent and parallel to one of the sidewalls at the top thereof, a second track on the floor of the car adjacent and parallel to said one of the sidewalls, a door structure having followers at its top and bottom adjacent to one side edge thereof movable in the tracks and supporting the door structure for lengthwise movement in the car and for pivotal movement about an axis adjacent to said one edge thereof, cooperating latch means on the door and the body to latch the door is selected positions in the body, stops on the tracks adjacent to the open end of the body to limit movement of the followers in a direction toward the open end of the body, and cooperating means on the tracks, the door and the followers providing for swinging of the door out of the open end of the carrier body and fiat against the outer surface of a sidewall of the body.

2. The movable closure of claim 1 including vertically spaced guide strips formed with a series of spaced openings extending along said one sidewall of the car body and interconnected guide rollers carried by the door and formed with spaced porjections fitting into the openings in the guide strips respectively to guide the door against tilting and in which the latch means includes a latch part movably carried by the door and engageable with one of the rollers to hold the rollers against turning.

3. A movable closure for a carrier body having a floor, spaced sidewalls and a roof and which is open at one end comprising a guide track in the roof adjacent and parallel to one sidewall, a guide track in the floor adjacent and parallel to said one sidewall, said tracks having extensions beyond the sidewall at the open end of the car curving toward the outside of the sidewall, a door, rollers carried by the door at the top and bottom and adjacent one edge thereof engaging the tracks respectively, the door being swingable outside of the carrier body when the rollers are in the track extensions, and cooperating latch means on the door and the carrier body to latch the door in a selected position in the carrier body.

4. The movable closure of claim 3 in which the rollers are offset from the door toward the open end of the body whereby the door can be folded flat against the outer surface of said sidewall.

5. A movable closure for a carrier body having a floor and spaced sidewalls and which is open at one end comprising a vertical door formed of a relatively narrow panel and a wider panel hinged to the narrow panel on a vertical axis, track means in the carrier body adjacent to one sidewall and extending lengthwise of the body, means supporting the narrow panel on the track means for movement lengthwise of the body and for pivotal movement about a vertical axis adjacent to said one side of the body, the supporting means including followers engaging the track means and carried by the narrow panel so that when the followers are at the ends of the tracks adjacent to the open end of the body the narrow panel can be swung out of the body to at least a right angle with said one sidewall and the wider panel can be swung flat against the outer surface of said one sidewall, and cooperating latch parts on the door and car body to latch the door in any one of a plurality of selected positions in the body.

6. The movable closure of claim 1 including sealing strips at the edges of the door to seal against the walls of the body, means mounting certain of said strips for movement parallel to the door, the latch parts including movable latch members carried by the door, and means connecting the movable sealing strips to the latch members to be moved outward of the door edges when the latch parts are engaged and inward of the door edges when the latch parts are disengaged.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 86,242 1/ 1869 Newcomb 49-319 558,786 4/1896 Doyle 49-319 1,355,692 10/1920 Reymann 49-177 X 3,029,747 4/ 1962 Shaver 49-177 X 3,169,282 2/ 1965 Godwin 49-254 X 3,241,502 3/1966 Magarian et a1 -376 DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner. KENNETH DOWN'EY, Examiner, 

1. A MOVABLE CLOSURE FOR A CARRIER BODY HAVING A FLOOR AND SIDEWALLS AND WHICH IS OPEN AT ONE END COMPRISING A GUIDE TRACK ADJACENT AND PARALLEL TO ONE OF THE SIDEWALLS AT THE TOP THEREOF, A SECOND TRACK ON THE FLOOR OF THE CAR ADJACENT AND PARALLEL TO SAID ONE OF THE SIDEWALLS, A DOOR STRUCTURE HAVING FOLLOWERS AT ITS TOP AND BOTTOM ADJACENT TO ONE SIDE EDGE THEREOF MOVABLE IN THE TRACKS AND SUPPORTING THE DOOR STRUCTURE FOR LENGTHWISE MOVEMENT IN THE CAR AND FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT ABOUT AN AXIS ADJACENT TO SAID ONE EDGE THEREOF, COOPERATING LATCH MEANS ON THE DOOR AND THE BODY TO LATCH THE DOOR IS SELECTED POSITIONS IN THE BODY, STOPS ON THE TRACKS ADJACENT TO THE OPEN END OF THE BODY TO LIMIT MOVEMENT OF THE FOLLOWERS IN A DIRECTION TOWARD THE OPEN END OF THE BODY, AND COOPERATING MEANS ON THE TRACKS, THE DOOR AND THE FOLLOWERS PROVIDING FOR SWINGING OF THE DOOR OUT OF THE OPEN END OF THE CARRIER BODY AND FLAT AGAINST THE OUTER SURFACE OF A SIDEWALL OF THE BODY. 